How to Select and Deselect Blocks of Text in Word 2010
Word 2010 offers you many ways to mark text as a block in your document. After you select text in a Word document as a block, you can also deselect that block of text so that it's no longer marked.
The secret to using the keyboard to select text is the Shift key.
Shifty Selection Wizardry
| To Select This |
Press This |
| A character at a time to the right of the insertion
pointer |
Shift+right arrow (→) |
| A character at a time to the left of the insertion pointer |
Shift+left arrow (←) |
| A block of text from the insertion pointer to the end of the
line |
Shift+End |
| A block of text from the insertion pointer to the beginning of
the line |
Shift+Home |
| A block of text from the insertion pointer to a line above |
Shift+up arrow |
| A block of text from the insertion pointer to a line below |
Shift+down arrow |
If you don't want to use the keyboard, just look to the computer mouse: You can mark text with the mouse by selecting vast swaths of words with a wide sweep of your hand, by clicking a number of times, or by using the old click-and-drag routine.
Dragging over Word 2010 text to select it
Here's the most common way to select text by using the computer mouse:
Point the mouse at the start of the text block.
Click and drag the mouse over the text you want to select.
While you drag, text becomes highlighted, or selected.
Release the mouse — stop the dragging — to mark the end of the block.
You can use these steps to select any old block size in your document.
This selection technique works best when you use the mouse to drag over only the text you can see on the screen. When you try to select text beyond what you see on the screen, you have to select and scroll — which can be unwieldy; the mouse scrolls the text up and down quickly and, well, things get out of hand.
Selecting Word 2010 text by clicking the mouse
A speedy way to select specific sizes of chunks of text is to match the power of the mouse with the dexterity of your index finger. This table explains some clicking-and-selecting techniques worth noting.
Mouse Selection Arcana
| To Select This Chunk of Text |
Click the Mouse Thus |
| A single word |
Point at the word with your mouse and double-click. |
| A line |
Move the mouse pointer into the left margin beside the line you
want to select. The mouse pointer changes to an arrow pointing
northeastward. Click the mouse to select a line of text or drag the
mouse up or down to select several lines. |
| A sentence |
Point the mouse at the sentence and Ctrl+click. (Hold down the
Ctrl key and click the mouse.) |
| A paragraph |
Point the mouse somewhere in the paragraph’s midst and
triple-click. |
| Selecting Word text with the old poke-and-point |
Here’s the best way to select a chunk of text of any size, especially when that chunk of text is larger than what you can see on the screen at one time:
Click the mouse to set the insertion pointer wherever you want the block to start — the anchor point.
Scroll through your document by using the scroll bar.
You must use the scroll bar to scroll through your document. If you use the cursor-movement keys, you reposition the insertion pointer, which isn’t what you want.
To mark the end of the block, hold down the Shift key and click the mouse where you want the block to end.
The text from the insertion pointer to wherever you clicked the mouse is selected as a block.
Using the F8 key to mark a block of text in Word
If you can remember that the F8 key on the computer's keyboard can be used to mark text, you can exploit one of the most powerful but seldom used text-marking tools that Word has to offer.
Consider these steps the next time you need to mark a block of text:
Position the insertion pointer at the start of the block of text.
Press the F8 key.
The F8 key drops anchor and marks one end of the block.
Use the keyboard's cursor keys to select the block of text.
Press a letter key to select text up to and including that letter. If you press N, you select all text up to and including the next N in your document. Nice. Nifty. Neat-o.
Word highlights text from the point where you dropped anchor with F8 to wherever you move the insertion pointer.
Do something with the selected block of text.
Word remains in extended selection mode until you do something with the block.
To cancel the extended selection, press the Esc key. That action ends extended selection mode and keeps the block of text marked.
Blocking the whole Word document
The biggest block you can mark is an entire document. Word has a specific command to do it, to select all text in a document:
From the Home tab, click the Editing button, then choose Select→Select All.
Press Ctrl+A.
Press the F8 key five times.
Press the obscure key combo Ctrl+5 (the 5 on the numeric keypad).
Deselecting a block of Word text
When you mark a block of text and change your mind, you must unmark, or deselect, the text. Here are a few handy ways to do it:
Word Glossary
AutoCorrect
The built-in Word feature that you can adjust or disable to automatically correct what Word (or you) considers an error.
Word Glossary
autocorrection
Allowing an application to automatically correct what it considers errors, such as spelling and capitalization.
Word Glossary
AutoShape
Common line art shapes (such as squares, pointing arrows, and speech bubbles) that are available to be inserted into a Word document for decoration or illustration.
Word Glossary
block
A portion of text that is selected in a document; this can range from a single character to the entire document. By marking off text as a block, you can perform certain actions, or use various Word commands, that affect only the text in that block. You can also copy or move the block of text.
Word Glossary
border
A line that is added above, below, or to either side of a paragraph. A border is useful for setting a block of text apart from surrounding text.
Word Glossary
clip art
Images, both line art and pictures, available in Microsoft Word for a user to place in documents.
Word Glossary
Clip Art library
A collection of clip art images, both line art and pictures, that a user is free to use in Microsoft Word documents.
Word Glossary
column break
A formatting command that ends one column of text and continues that text in another column.
Word Glossary
Compare Document
The feature in Word 2007 with which you can compare changes in one document against another document.
Word Glossary
crop
To make an image smaller by eliminating some of the content, much like cutting an image with a pair of scissors.
Word Glossary
denominator
The part of a fraction that appears after or below the line. For example, in the fraction, 3/64, 64 is the denominator.
Word Glossary
Draft view
One of the five views in Word 2007. This is the most simple and streamlined view.
Word Glossary
drop cap
A specially formatted letter that appears at the beginning of a paragraph. Word offers two styles of drop caps. The first, and most common, begins the paragraph with a large letter that spills down into the text, displacing the first few lines of the paragraph. The second style places the large first letter in the margin adjacent to the paragraph.
Word Glossary
field
In Mail Merge, an individual piece of information in a record, such as first name, last name, date, address, and phone number. Fields are what make a mail-merged document appear customized.
Word Glossary
field code
A placeholder in a Word document that holds variable data (such as a date, or an index tag). Field codes show in gray; toggle their view by pressing Alt+F9.
Word Glossary
gutter
The white space between columns of text in a document. Word sets the default width of gutters at ½ inch, although you can change this amount.
Word Glossary
hard return
Pressing Enter (PC) or Return (Mac) to insert a paragraph symbol and create a new paragraph.
Word Glossary
hyperlink
An embedded and active link that, when clicked, takes you from a document to a Web site or URL.
Word Glossary
justify
To adjust horizontal spacing so that text is aligned evenly along both the left and right margins. Justifying text creates a smooth edge on both sides.
Word Glossary
linked text boxes
Two or more text boxes containing text that flows from one text box to the next. If two text boxes are linked, the text they contain starts in the first box and ends in the second.
Word Glossary
nonbreaking hyphen
Creating a special hyphen in Word that will not allow hyphenated words (such as disability-only services) to break at the end of a line (dis-ability-only services).
Word Glossary
NORMAL.DOTM
A special template file where Word stores all the settings for any new document you create. In Word, all documents are based on the Normal document template.
Word Glossary
numerator
The part of a fraction that appears before or above the line. For example, in the fraction, 3/64, 3 is the numerator.
Word Glossary
Office Help system
The built-in feature of Word where you can search for help about Word.
Word Glossary
ordinal
A number that indicates a position in a series, such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on. Ordinals are one of the main reasons for using superscripts.
Word Glossary
Print Layout view
One of the five views in Word 2007. In this view, you can see how the document will print according to its page breaks.
Word Glossary
Print Preview
The feature in Word that you can open to see how your document will look after printing.
Word Glossary
proofing
Checking a document for errors, especially spelling, grammar, and layout.
Word Glossary
Protect Document
The feature in Word 2007 with which you can assign or restrict editing rights to a document.
Word Glossary
pull quote
A text box that highlights a quote from the document in which it appears.
Word Glossary
Quick Styles
A collection of thumbnail presets that you can apply to text. You can use these styles to quickly format your document.
Word Glossary
record
1. (noun) In Mail Merge, a collection of information about a person, organization, or event. A record consists of fields, which are individual pieces of information, such as first name, last name, date, address, and phone number. 2. (verb) To set down in permanent form, such as through writing.
Word Glossary
Research task pane
The search pane that opens on the right side of the screen when you right-click a word with a wavy red or green underline and then choose Look Up from the menu that appears.
Word Glossary
Ribbon
A panel of tabs representing different functional areas in Word. Each tab contains command buttons and icons, organized into related groups. A new feature of Word 2007, the Ribbon replaces the menus and toolbars from earlier versions of Word.
Word Glossary
SmartArt
A Microsoft Word feature that lets you add several different types of useful diagrams to your document. The idea behind SmartArt diagrams is to represent a bullet list as a diagram of interconnected shapes.
Word Glossary
soft return
Manually inserting a new line without creating a new paragraph. On a PC keyboard, the shortcut is Shift+Enter.
Word Glossary
spell checker
A feature in many applications that checks spelling (and often grammar) against a built-in dictionary.
Word Glossary
style
1. (noun) A collection of formatting commands that can be applied to text to make a document look more consistent and attractive. 2. (verb) To make consistent with a formatting convention by applying a certain style.
Word Glossary
synonym
Words that have similar meanings, such as pink and rosy.
Word Glossary
template
A special type of document file used as the basis for formatting new documents.
Word Glossary
text box
A special type of shape designed to place text on your Microsoft Word document without regard to the normal page margins.
Word Glossary
text wrapping
The way text is arranged in relation to a picture or image in a document.
Word Glossary
text wrapping style
An option for arranging text around an image in a document, such as In Line with Text, Behind Text, In Front of Text, or Tight.
Word Glossary
Thesaurus
The built-in Word feature that offers synonyms and antonyms.
Word Glossary
Track Changes
The feature in Word with which you can monitor who adds and deletes what from a document. You can “hide” Track Changes but still have them enabled.
Word Glossary
URL
Abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator. Used in common speech to mean a Web address, such as www.dummies.com.
Word Glossary
watermark
Faint or faded words or images that appear in a document behind the text. One common example is a “Confidential” watermark placed diagonally across the page.
Word Glossary
Watermark gallery
A collection of preformatted watermark options in Word.
Word Glossary
WordArt
A Microsoft Word feature that takes ordinary text and transforms it into a preformatted (and often rather artistic) design.
Word Glossary
WordArt gallery
A collection displaying Microsoft Word’s many WordArt options.
